City man shot after dispute at card game

LAURINBURG — A man has been charged with attempted murder following a North Main Street shooting on Friday that left another injured, according to police.

Around 11 p.m. on Friday, police arrived at HatWorld in the Hilltop Plaza shopping center on North Main Street in response to a reported shooting. Officers found that Kary Bethea, 30, had been shot in the back.

According to Assistant Chief Cliff Sessoms of the Laurinburg Police Department, Bethea was shot in an altercation during a card game with Dexter Byrd, 35, of Laurinburg. The business was closed at the time, Sessoms said, and Bethea and Byrd were in the building along with the business’s owner and 32-year-old Cedrick Gibson of Laurinburg.

Byrd reportedly became upset about the game and took money from the table, at which point an argument sprang up and Bethea took the money back. Byrd then retrieved a handgun from a vehicle outside and returned, shooting at and breaking down a locked door to reenter the business, Sessoms said.

Sessoms said that Byrd then took money from Bethea and shot him in the back before leaving the scene, transported by Gibson. Police have not released the amount of money in question, but Sessoms said that it “was not a lot.”

Bethea was transported to Scotland Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Shortly after the incident, Gibson turned himself over to authorities at the Laurinburg Police Department. On Saturday morning, Byrd was found at the McGirt’s Bridge Road home of an acquaintance, according to Sessoms.

Byrd is charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, robbery with a dangerous weapon, injury to real property, and discharging a firearm within city limits. He was placed in the Scotland County Jail under a $125,000 bond.

Gibson was charged with accessory after the fact to a felony. He was placed under a $15,000 bond.

According to North Carolina corrections records, Byrd has previously faced numerous charges including armed robbery, assault on a female, possessing a weapon of mass destruction, vandalism, resisting an officer and communicating threats.

Bethea has previously been charged with felony possession and intent to sell or deliver schedule I drugs, according to corrections records, and Gibson has faced charges of assault, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.